+

Rhetorical Situations

+1. Purpose

To explore thoughts and emotions

To express ourselves

To entertain

To record words and events

To communicate with others

To try to persuade others

+Identify Your Purpose

What the primary purpose of the writing task is To entertain To persuade To Inform To demonstrate your knowledge or writing ability

What are your own goals

What are your audience’s expectations Do they affect the way you define your purpose

+Thinking About Purpose

What do you want your audience to think? Feel?

What does this writing task call you to do?

What are the best ways to achieve your purpose?

+2. Audience

Affects your audience in various ways What you write, how much you write, how you phrase it,

choice of genre

Audience will interpret your writing according to expectations and experiences

Remember: You may make assumptions in your writing, but you need to supply evidence and back-up

+Identify Your Audience

Known People who you are familiar with as well as people you

don’t know

Unknown Most difficult because you can’t be sure what they know

and what they don’t know or how they will react

Multiple Most common

+Thinking About Audience

Whom do you want to reach?

What is your audience’s background – their education and life experiences

What are their interests?

Is there any demographic information that you should keep in mind?

What potential circumstances may affect their reading?

What does your audience already know – or believe – about your topic?

What is your relationship with your audience?

What does your audience need and expect from you?

What kind of response do you want?

How can you best appeal to your audience?

+3. Genre

Kinds of writing

Each as a particular convention for presenting information

Identify: Does your situation call for a particular genre?

+Thinking about Genre

What is your genre, and how does it affect what content you can or should include?

Does your genre call for specific strategies?

Does your genre require a certain organization

Does your genre affect your tone?

Does the genre require formal/informal language?

+4. Stance

Attitude towards your topic

Identify Your Stance What is your attitude? Objective? Critical? Curious?

Opinionated? Affected by your purpose Tone is created through the words you use and the way you

approach your subject and audience

+Thinking About Stance

What is your stance and how can you best present it to achieve your purpose

What tone will best convey your stance

How is your stance likely to be received by your audience

Should you openly reveal your stance

+

Writing in Academic ContextsAdd your voice to a larger conversation.

+Key Features

Evidence that you’ve already considered the subject.

A clear, appropriately qualified thesis.

A response to what others have said.

Good reasons supported by evidence.

Acknowledgement of multiple sources.

Carefully documented sources.

A confident, authoritative stance.

Indication why your topic matters.

Careful attention to correctness.

+Academic Rhetorical Situations

What genre does the assignment require?

What do you see as your instructor’s purpose for this assignment?

What is your purpose – apart from fulfilling your instructor’s expectations?

Who is your audience?

How can you convey a confident, authoritative voice?